AZA lawyers have handled many high-stakes healthcare cases and trials for providers and doctors. We’ve represented practice groups, hospitals, and labs. We’ve handled staff and pay issues, Medicare and Medicaid issues, managed care contracts, qui tam and whistleblower cases, and more.

Among others, we’ve been retained by a national doctor groups like TeamHealth and Radiology Partners to handle litigation around the country against insurers for underpayment. Below are representative samples of those cases.

• In September 2023, AZA won a $153 million award on behalf of a group of radiologists against United Healthcare resulting from United’s breach of the parties’ longstanding participating provider agreement.
• In December 2021, AZA won a $62.65 million jury verdict in Las Vegas on behalf of emergency room doctors cheated by United Healthcare affiliates.  This was the third AZA win for TeamHealth and a long-anticipated showdown with the largest U.S. insurer that may alter the landscape of dozens of other similar cases around the country.  Texas Lawbookfeatured the Nevada case as the top story in Top Commercial Litigation in 2021 . See also AZA Victorious in $62 Million Nationally Watched TeamHealth Trial Against Insurance Giant United Healthcare. See also “Nevada Trial Culminates with Jury Ordering UnitedHealthcare to Pay TeamHealth Doctors $60 million in Punitive Damages.”

Coverage of the trial included the Associated Press’ Nevada jury: Health insurers owe ER doctors $60M in damages  and Nevada jury says health insurer undercut ER reimbursements. See also Texas Lawbook stories (subscription required) UnitedHealthcare Hit with $60M Punitive Verdict in Nevada Suit by ER doctors,  “Vegas Jury Awards TeamHealth Millions, Says ‘Yes’ to Punis,” and “TeamHealth Trial: A Threat, A Delay, A Juror Down.”

• In June 2021, AZA successfully represented emergency room physicians in obtaining a $19.1 million Houston jury verdict against a large insurance company in the first case in the nation to litigate emergency room physicians’ out-of-network pay from private insurance companies under the Affordable Care Act. The case was covered in the media  by Texas Lawyerin ‘Designate a Villain’: The Legal Strategy That Led a Houston Jury to Award $19M to ER Docs in Insurance Dispute (subscription required), by Law 360 in Jury Awards $19M To Doc Staffing Co. In Reimbursement Row  (subscription required) and by Texas Lawbook in Houston Jury Awards TeamHealth $19.1M in Trial Over ER Doc Pay (subscription required).
• In August 2020, AZA successfully represented emergency room doctors in obtaining a $9.4 million jury verdict against an Arkansas insurance company in a case in which the insurance company grossly underpaid emergency room doctors. AZA was hired six days before trial. A similar case will be tried soon in Harris County. See the Texas Lawbook story on this win Six Days’ Notice, Six Witnesses, Six Jurors, 150 ER Doctors, Two Ticked Off In-House Counsel and a $9.4M Verdict(subscription required).

We also represent healthcare and pharmaceutical providers, and private equity groups, in all types of matters. This includes partnership and corporate governance disputes; payer and provider litigation; restrictive covenant claims; False Claims Act litigation and investigation; vendor and service provider disputes; and in government investigations.

Recently, we led the charge in taking on an eight-figure billing dispute for a healthcare company with its carrier; successfully removed the head of a healthcare practice in a contentious corporate governance dispute; defeated multimillion dollars claims brought by a medical director against their group; and spearheaded a response to a six-month regulatory investigation that resulted in a no further action letter and an exoneration of the company.

We have also advised on partnership formation and dissolution; roll-ups of private equity healthcare entities; healthcare company employee policies and agreements; and on government investigations.

Such representative healthcare industry work includes:

• AZA successfully represented a local clinical laboratory and its owner against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Granting a summary judgment motion AZA filed on its client’s behalf, a federal district court reversed an HHS administrative decision that could have excluded AZA’s client from participating in federal healthcare programs for 15 years.
• We obtained a multimillion–dollar settlement in breach of fiduciary duty case against former hospital administrators.  The case settled without a single court hearing after AZA conducted aggressive early discovery into financial mismanagement claims.